Method of attaching spokes to steering wheel hubs



@ch 6 R9360 J. W. ANDERSON 2,056,554

METHOD OF ATTACHING SPOKES TO STEERING WHEEL HUBS Origingl Filed Sept.9, 1935 FEEL gvwc/wbo'n John W Ana/@2500 Patented Oct. 6, 1936 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE METHOD OF ATTAGHING SPOKES TO STEERING WHEEL HUBSJohn W. Anderson, Portland, Ind., assignor to Sheller ManufacturingCorporation, Portland, Ind., a corporation of Indiana 2 Claims.

This invention relates to steering wheels of the type particularly usedin automobiles, and has primarily for its object the provision of amethod of attaching the wire spoke ends to the hub members of suchwheels.

In wheels of this character, it is customary to make the hubs in twoparts, a lower body part and an upper spoke clamping part secured to thebody part by screws or the like. There are certain objections to thisform of hub construction and manner of attaching the wire spoke endsthereto which it is the purpose of the present invention to overcome.

This is a division of application Serial No.

39,681, filed September 9, 1935.

The invention is fully described in the following specification and apreferred embodiment thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawing, inwhich- Figure 1 is a plan view of a steering wheel embodying myinvention, with parts broken away, and Fig. 2 is an enlarged section onthe line 2-2 in Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawing, l designates the hub, 2 the wire spokemembers, and 3 the rim of a hand steering wheel.

The hub l is composed of a single piece of hard rigid material,preferably die cast metal, and is provided centrally with the steeringpost and key-receiving opening 4, the lower or bottom end of which isenlarged to receive the customary steering post column. The upper end ofthe hub at the top of the opening 4 is provided with an enlargedcoaxially disposed socket 5 for receiving the control parts and mountingtherefor customarily provided on steering wheel hubs.

The side wall of the socket 5 is cylindrical or substantially so, andset into an undercut annular recess 6 therein is a metal ring 1preferably of steel, which is U-shaped in cross-section with its channelfacing inward, or, in other words, the ring is of internal channel form.This ring is preferably set in the hub during the forming thereof so itis firmly and rigidly secured therein and is substantially integral withthe hub body.

When the hub, with the insert ring I, has been formed, the portionthereof forming the side wall of the socket 5 is transversely drilled toprovide spoke-receiving openings 8 to suit the number and position ofthe inner ends of the wire spoke members 3, with the ends thereofextending through the ring I and into its channel. In attaching theinner spoke ends to the hub, the wire or wires, or rod-like member ormembers 3 there- 01', are inserted in respective openings 8 and thenelectrically welded, upset or otherwise firmly and rigidly anchored tothe ring 1 within its channel, so that any burr formed on the spoke endby the welding or other upsetting will not interfere with the insertionof control parts or other mounting into the socket 5.

It is apparent that the invention not only provides a steering wheel hubof integral construction but also provides simple, strong and durablemeans for attaching the inner ends of the spoke members to the hub.Furthermore, the ring I, in addition to serving as a rigid anchoringmeans for the spoke ends to which they may be welded, serves as areinforcement for the hub.

I wish it understood that my invention is not limited to any specificconstruction, arrangement or form of the parts, as it is capable ofnumerous modifications and changes without departing from the spirit ofthe claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire tosecure by United States Letters Patent, is:

1. The method of making and assembling the hub and spokes of a steeringwheel, consisting in die casting the hub in a single piece with acontrol-mount receiving socket in its outer end and during the diecasting operation imbedding a steel ring in the side wall of the socket,then drilling said side wall and the ring to provide spoke-receivingopenings extending outwardly from the socket, and then inserting theinner ends of wire spoke members into said openings and electricallywelding their ends to said ring.

2. The method of making and assembling the hub and spokes of a steeringwheel, consisting in die casting the hub in a single piece with acontrol-mount receiving socket at its outer end and during the diecasting operation imbedding an internally channeled steel ring in theside wall of the socket with the ring channel opening into the socket,then drilling said side wall and ring to provide spoke-receivingopenings therein extending outwardly from the socket, then inserting theinner ends of wire spoke members into said openings and electricallywelding their ends to said ring within its channel.

JOHN W. ANDERSON.

